There is such tremendous catharsis in Schindler’s List when the survivors and their offspring come over the hill. I think it is the most powerful moment I’ve seen on film. And it is real.
Two other films held a lot of personal meaning and release for me that might be hard to understand.
Apocalypse Now was the first film that I saw that addressed the war in Southeast Asia. It allowed me to acknowledge and release some of the feelings that I had not dealt with. Seeing it for the first time was quite a journey.
When my father was dying, I saw Field of Dreams three times. The last time was two days before he passed. He had taught me to love baseball. There was much that comforted me in that movie that is very hard to describe or even put my finger on. And there were coincidences that happened afterward. I was already worn out emotionally, but that was the right movie at the right time.
The scene in Armageddon when Bruce Willis decides to stay on the asteroid.
Okay, I’m kidding.
I guess there could be some debate in here regarding the definition of excrcuating (most of these seem just weepy to me – in a very palatable way), but another that really got my engine racing in an excruciatingly emotional way was in Braveheart when the British soldier slits the throat of William Wallace’s wife – and then the follow-up when Mel opens up his can of whup-ass, which is actually pretty damn fulfilling.
Also, in Platoon, when Berenger’s character holds the Viet Nam village hostage (i.e., old lady and her husband).
But if we’re just going for over-the-top weepy:
In Sixth Sense when Joel Haley Osment tells his mom about his ability to see the departed and shares the story about his grandmother watching her from the back of the theatre.
In Awakenings when Penelope Ann Miller and Robert DeNiro slow dance. Also, when DeNiro meets his Mom.
Some of the last few scenes in Ghost.
In Sling Blade when the little boy divulges how his father really died.
The climax scene in Mr. Holland’s Opus.
The epilogue scene in A League of Their Own, when the women, now old and gray, go to visit their Hall of Fame exhibit.
Although the movie drips with cheese, I was gasping for air in a couple of scenes in Untamed Heart.
The scenes in Dead Man Walking that led to the execution.
My all-time weeper, though, is the epilogue scene in Schindler’s List.
Pokemon, the first movie: When Ash is trying to stop the fighting and gets turned to stone, and Pikachu tries to wake him up, then begins to cry as he realises Ash isn’t coming to. All the other Pokemon who had been fighting cry, too, and their tears flow toward Ash, who is revived. Now I’m looking at the screen through misty eyes.
I cried, seriously cried, watching the preview for Eight Below in the theatre. I want to see it, but I do not want to cry like a maniac in the theater. Put an animal in distress in a movie and I will cry.
Lord of the Rings movies all make me cry like a maniac at every opportunity. Heroism hits me in the heart. Bravery does, too. It’s really kind of painful to watch sometimes. I have to really be ready to be exhausted for the rest of the day if I want to watch any of those, especially ROTK. “For Frodoooo!”
When Nanny McPhee leaves at the end of the movie.
And this one’s not excruciating - it makes me happy-sad. The end of Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, when Wyld Stallyns rocks out and they show all the headlines of their career. I don’t know why it makes me sad - perhaps because the movie is over and I know there were no more made, and Bill and Ted represents my childhood to me and no movies hold such a dear place in my heart as they do.
I must be a big cry baby because there are so many movies that have made me cry. I don’t know how to do the spoiler box, so the titles are bolded - the scenes are not.
Antwone Fisher - when he met his mother in the projects. The Joy Luck Club - leaving the twins on the road, meeting the twins and explaining that mom has died, the baby bathing scene, “I see you”. Man, I’m welling up here.
**The Perfect Storm ** - the ending A Love Affair to Remember - when Cary’s character realizes that his love can’t walk and understands why she missed the date. Men of Honor Carl Brashear’s walk in the courtroom. Monster’s Inc. - as previously mentioned.
There are many more. I’ll probably add some later - I need some tissue.
Oh, yes, “She says, ‘All the time.’ What does that mean, Mommy?”
The mother is sitting there, her face a rictus, trying not to cry aloud, knowing her mom is still around…oh, jeez, there I go…
I’ll name another comedy, Grumpier Old Men, when Jack Lemmon comes across his father, Burgess Meredith, sitting dead by the side of the lake. Earlier, his dad had said that he ate poorly and that he was surprised to still be alive, and that maybe God had forgotten him. John Gustafson sees his dad, smiles sadly, sits down next to him and says “I guess God remembered you after all, Pop.”
Maybe it’s cheesy, but I like the scene in Galaxy Quest where Alan Rickman’s character, after years of thinking is TV role was worthless, gives the dying alien who admires him the “by Grabthar’s hammer” speech he used to hate.
